Jornada Villanueva de Teatro

Named for the January 22, 1869 Sucesos del Teatro Villanueva, a violent colonial-era attack on Cuban independence sympathisers attending a bufos performance, this early-January theatre celebration has run since Cuban Theatre Day was formally established in 1980. Sponsored by the National Council of Scenic Arts, individual editions carry specific dedications, including a recent centenary tribute to playwright Abelardo Estorino.

On January 22, 1869, just months after the outbreak of Cuba's Ten Years War, a company of comic bufos actors performed at Havana's Teatro Villanueva, and the audience's open display of independence sympathies, the absence of Spanish colonial emblems, women wearing the white, blue and red or plain white colours associated with the independence cause, and loosened hair as a gesture of defiance, provoked a violent response from Cuban forces serving the Spanish colonial administration, leaving an estimated four dead and eight wounded, though the true toll may have been higher since authorities never officially recorded it.